Process for seed-celling apples and the like



Dec. 9, 1958 w. L. KEIFER 2,853,482

PROCESS FOR SEED-CELLING APPLES AND THE LIKE Original Filed July 12,1956 INVENTOR. WILLIAM L. KEIFER ATTORNEY United States Patet "fiFice2,863,482 PROCESS FOR SEED-CELLING APPLES AND THE IKE William L. Keifer, Lyons, N. Y., assignor to Comstock Foods, Inc., Newark, N. Y., acorporation of New York Original application July 12, 1956, Serial No.597,433, now Patent No. 2,820,496, dated January 21, 1953. Divided andthis application November 18, 1957, Serial No. 697,096

3 Claims. (01. 146-238 The present invention relates to a method and toapparatus for seed-celling apples and similar fruits. The presentapplication is a division of my application Serial No. 597,433, filedJuly 12, 1956, now Patent No. 2,820,496. The claims of my parentapplication are confined to the novel apparatus of the presentinvention; and the present application is restricted to my new process.

In the preparation of apples for cooking, canning and drying, it iscustomary practice to pare and core the apples. Then the apples are fedinto a combined seedcelling and sliding machine for removal of the seedsand seed cells and for quartering the apples or dividing them intolesser divisions.

In conventional seed-celling and slicing machines, the cored apples aredropped over a rotating spindle, to one side of which the celling knifeis secured. The slicing blades are mounted radially of the spindle andare located just beneath the celling knife. During the cellingoperation, the slicing blades enter partly into the apple and serve tohold it against rotation while the seed-cells are being removed.Immediately after celling is completed, the apple is forced through theslicing blades by another cored apple which is dropped into position onthe slicing blades for celling.

The partial entrance of the slicing blades into the apple prior to thecelling operation weakens the apple, and in some cases may result in theapple being split prematurely because of the outwardly expansive pressure exerted by the celling knife. This may occur particularly where theapple happens to be unusually soft and mellow. When an apple is thussplit prematurely, it is usually broken up into a number of small,undesirable and possibly unusuable fragments.

After celling, the seeds and seed cells removed from the apple dropdownwardly through the slicing blades with the apple itself, andgenerally are broken up into irregular large pieces by the slicingblades. The apple slices, seeds, and the large fragments of the seedcells are then screened in order to separate the desired apple slicesfrom the undesired seeds, seed cell fragments, and any small piecesbroken from the apple slices. With conventional celling techniques, theseparation obtained by screening is seldom satisfactory, since the sizeof the' undesirable portions is frequently larger than the size of thedesired finished product. This is attributable partly to the incompleteseparation between the large seed cell fragments and partly to a widevariation in the diameters of the whole fruit.

One object of the present invention is to provide a process for cellingapples which will insure against premature splitting of the fruit, andwhich will assure a maximum yield of usable slices of the fruit.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved method forcelling apples and similar fruit which will reduce the fragments of seedcells to particles of small size, so that screening separation of theparticles and the apple slices is facilitated.

A related object of the invention is to provide a method Patented Dec.9, 1958 for seed-celling apples and similar fruit in which the normallyoutwardly directed expansive force exerted by the rotation of thecelling knife is minimized, or even eliminated completely, thereby toprevent premature splitting of the apple attributable to the urging ofthe apple against the slicing knives by the heretofore normally-present,outwardly-directed expansive pressure of the celling knife.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent hereinafter from thespecification and from the recital of the appended claims.

A preferred method of carying out the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one embodiment of the improvedseed-celling assembly of the presentinvention, showing a cored appleimpaled upon the slicing knives in position for celling according to theprocess of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the seed-celling knife assembly;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of thearrows; and

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the halving pin.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the numeral 10 denotes therotary spindle of a seed-celling and slicing machine and having anenlarged portion 15. Mounted on a flat portion 16 of the spindle, whichextends axially along the enlarged portion 15, is a semi-circularseedcelling knife 11, held in position by screws 17. A halving pin 14 istransversely seated in the spindle, angularly spaced ahead of thecelling knife in the direction of rotation of the spindle. A set screw22 bears against the shank 18 of the halving pin and secures it in therecess 21 in the spindle. Below the celling knife, and extendingradially outwardly from the spindle, are a set of slicing knives 12 and13, in a conventional spider arrangement, but with alternate slicingknives 12 ele vated above the other knives 13. The higher alternateknives impale and support an apple thereon during seedcelling withoutweakening its structure unduly.

'Ihe halving pin 14has a thin, flat blade 19 projecting from its shank18. The blade 19 extends radially outwardly from the spindle at least asfar as the seed-celling knife 11. The pin is positioned verticallycentrally of the span of the celling knife; and preferably, at themidpoint thereof.

For seed-celling, a previously-cored apple A is dropped downwardly onthe spindle and is impaled on the higher slicing knives 12. This locksthe apple in place and resists its tendency to rotate under theinfluence of the seed-celling knife 11.

With the apple A thus partially impaled, as indicated in Fig. l, thehalving pin 14 cuts a transverse, circular, disk-like swath centrally ofthe apple A as the spindle it) rotates.

The flattened portion 19 of the halving pin 14 is as thin aspracticable, consistent with satisfactory strength. Thus, as it moves inits circular path through the flesh of the apple, it exerts very littleoutwardly-directed ex pansive force on the apple. Nevertheless, itleaves in its wake an open swath roughly corresponding in thickness tothe thickness of the flattened portion 19. Thus, when the seed-cellingknife 11 moves through its arcuate path following after the halving pin,the flesh of the apple which is displaced by the seed-celling knife 11is free to move inwardly, so that the outwardly-directed expansive forceheretofore present in the seed-celling operation is eliminated for allpractical purposes. In effect, the outwardly-directed expansive force ofthe seedcelling knife has been transformed into an inwardly-directedcompressive force exerted against the seed-cells. The tendency topremature splitting of the apple which has characterized priorseed-celling apparatus and opera tions is therefore obviated.

After the spindle has rotated through a celling cycle, the apple Aisforced downwardly through the upper slicing knives 12, and the lowerslicing knives 13 as another apple is pushed into place onto the upperslicing knives 12. As the apple A moves downwardly, the severedseed-cell portions of the apple are carried downwardly through theslicing knives.

The inward compressive force exerted by the seed-cell knife 11 issufficient to cause some structural deterioration in the seed-cellportion of the apple, because of the weakening of this part of the appleby the halving pin 14. The subsequent passage of the seed-cells throughthe slicing knives causes breaking up of the seed-cell portion of theapple, while the remainder of the apple is divided into firm slices.Subsequent screening to separate the apple slices from the small, brokenfragments of the seed-cell portion of the apple is considerablysimplified and rendered more efiicient by the extremely small size ofthe particles of the seed-cell portion. Furthermore, the increasedfrangibility of the severed seed-cell portion of the apple, caused byits halving and compression by the seed-celling knife, eliminatesundesirable jamming of apple fragments between the seed-celling knife 11and the underlying portion of the spindle it as has occurred in thepast.

The 90 lead of the halving pin 14 ahead of the seedcelling knife 11 isimportant because of the disk-like hollow area which is formed in theseed-cell portion of the apple, Which allows the force of the seed-cellknife to be directed inwardly as a compressive force, rather thanoutwardly as an expansive force. The relative positions of the halvingpin and the seed-cell knife are quite important for satisfactoryoperation of the device. While a 90 spacing is preferred, substantiallyequally satis factory results are obtained with angular spacingscovering a fairly wide range. In practice, an angular range of about 30up to about 120 has been found to give best results. The 90 spacing ispreferred for the reasons set forth above, and also because maximumstrength characteristics of the spindle 10 are utilized.

The invention is particularly useful where the apple being slicedhappens to be soft and mellow, since even the slight entry of theslicing knives 12 into it may weaken its structure sufficiently for itto be apt to be split prematurely under the normally outward expansivepressure exerted by the conventional seed-celling knife 11. With thehalving pin and the.seed-cell knife assembly of the present invention,the force exerted by the seed-cell knife 11 is directed inwardly and thepotential apple segments are not forced apart prematurely by beingrammed onto the knives 12 during seed-ceiling.

While the invention has been described in connection with a specificembodiment thereof, then, it will be understood that it is capable offurther modification, and this application is intended to cover anyvariations, uses, or adaptations of the invention following, in general,the principles of the invention and including such departures from thepresent disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the artto which the invention pertains and as may be applied to the essentialfeatures hereinbefore set forth, and as fall within the scope of theinvention or the limits of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. A method of separating seed-cells from previously cored fruitcomprising cutting a circular transverse open path in the seed-cellportion of said fruit, then severing theseed-cell portion from saidfruit by a cutting movement encompassing said seed-cell portion and thecircular transverse open path therein.

2. The method of removing the seed-cell portion from a fruit, comprisingbisecting the seed-cell portion thereof transversely, severing theseed-cell portion of said fruit by a cutting movement encompassing saidseed-cell portion, and slicing said fruit to obtain fruit slices andparticulate matter including small fragments of the seedcell portion ofthe fruit.

3. The method of producing apple slices comprising cutting the seed-cellportion of a previously-cored apple transversely into at least twoportions, severing the seedcell portion from the cored apple by acutting movement encompassing said seed-cell portion, and slicing theapple to obtain apple slices and particulate matter including smallfragments of the seed-cell portion of the apple.

No references cited.

